


Settle a Bet

by transtwinyards



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Ancient Rome, M/M, Profanity, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-30 22:10:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3953617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transtwinyards/pseuds/transtwinyards
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morale his ass, Jason had thought to himself. If this was what they got for saving a few hundred men from death, he’d have gladly taken death. Both for him and Nico.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Settle a Bet

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry it took too long to make :( I was really working up the motivation for this.
> 
> Can be read as a standalone. For context, this is a prompt from my other work, In the Glory of Battle. The prompt is
> 
> [here.](http://stubbornjerk.tumblr.com/post/119156012385)

“It is good for morale,” Reyna had said. Jason grumbled as he ducked out of the praetor’s tent. 

Morale his ass, Jason had thought to himself. If this was what they got for saving a few hundred men from death, he’d have gladly taken death. Both for him and Nico.

To set the scene, this was how it happened: Five men drinking after a hard day’s work killing enemies and holding their front against the ever turning tide of the war. 

Rumors, those where what Jason had heard. 

“ _D’you think he fucks them?”_

_“Those skeletons he controls?”_

_“The hell d’you think I was referring to? Keep to the subject, ya old bloke. And I_ was _referring to the skeletons. So, d’you think he fucks them?”_

_“Oh, you gossiping mongrel, he doesn’t. Do you see his face once he gets out of the baths every evening? Utter relief. It’s like he just came out of paradise or something.”  
_

_“Well the man’s ought to be fucking someone. Do you see how he just dazes out sometimes during down time?”  
_

_“Maybe he’s fucking the general_.”

And that was when Jason had heard enough.

It wasn’t because he was against the thought of his men gossiping. In fact, listening in to gossip was his favorite pastime. 

(”I heard the general saved a prostitute from getting assaulted.  _That’s_  how he got that scar on his lip.” Little did they know what a two year old bored out of his mind would do with an arrowhead within reach.)

But he wasn’t standing for  _this_. The fact that the good Samaritan of a soldier that Nico was was getting all of this treatment from his men. 

And the  _subject_  of it.

“Why are you so hung up about it?” Nico had asked over wine. This was a downtime thing for them. Jason was glad he’d even convinced Nico to come with him after the fifth time he’d insisted.

“You’re my friend, Nico! Of course I’m hung up about what  _my men_  are thinking of you. You’ve saved their arses more times than I can count by now.”

Jason heard a couple of men snickering by the back. He whipped his head around to glare at them.

“You owe me ten denarii,” said one soldier.

“They haven’t even said anything yet!” protested the other.

“General said ‘arse’. That counts,”

“Does not.”

“Does _too_.”

Jason didn’t notice when Nico had stood up, or when he’d started walking towards the men. But there he was, confidently strolling to the group.

“What kind of bet are we settling here?” Nico asked, his accent slurring the words. Jason knows that it’s on purpose. The tip of his ears were pink, Jason blames it on the alcohol.

One soldier cackled, “Oh, that’s just  _perfect_. Just the man we need to settle this.”

Jason decided that watching was the better option for this.

“So my friend and I here were betting on whether or not you and the general were fucking,” said the soldier. He received a kick from his friend, to which he kicked back.

“Is that so?” hummed Nico. Jason felt his nerves buzz. “Who won then? I can pay for them.”

“No– you don’t need to–” the man who lost stammered but Nico broke him off.

“No, I’m curious. Who won?”

“I did. I say you’re  _totally_  fucking,” the other soldier replied. Jason flinched but bit his tongue.

“Hmm, here’s ten denarii then," coins  _clink_ ed and clattered on the wooden table.

“ _What?! For real?!_ You and  _the general_?!” shouted the man who lost. Nico said nothing and turned back to sit with Jason.

Jason gaped at him. Nico just stared back and sipped at his drink. “Problem, general?” he mumbled, his shoulders visibly tense. 

He blinked, then started laughing. Nico had the beginnings of a smile pulling at his lips when Jason had settled down. “You–, you’re _absolutely_ amazing, you know that right?”

Nico turned a visible shade of pink. Jason didn’t want to blame it on the alcohol that time. “I know,” he replied indignantly.

Jason signalled to the bartender, his eyes never leaving Nico’s. “Next five drinks are on me. Put it on my tab.”


End file.
